Crypto Industry News:

The United Nations warned that participation in a North Korean cryptocurrency conference in February could be a violation of sanctions.

The report tracks last week's indictment of Ethereum Foundation researcher Virgil Griffith accusing him of plotting to violate the International Economic Allowances Act.

Griffith went to North Korea for the first Blockchain and cryptocurrency conference in April last year. He and other conference participants allegedly discussed cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technologies. The US government claims that Griffith's presence may have helped North Korea bypass international sanctions.

Prosecutors in the Griffith case say he encouraged other US citizens to attend the conference this year. The conference website states that people from any country except South Korea, Japan and Israel have permission to visit, adding that guest passports will not be stamped.

North Korea has been subject to UN sanctions since 2006 for conducting nuclear and missile programs. These sanctions oblige, inter alia, countries to prevent "financial transactions, technical training, advice, services or assistance" if they could contribute to the implementation of missile programs or help to avoid sanctions.

The alleged "clear discussions about cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions and money laundering" appear to be a direct violation of this sanction.

Technical Market Overview:

After the new high was made at $170.42, the ETH/USD pair has been consolidating the recent gains in a narrow range located between the levels of $170.42 - $156.77. Nevertheless, this price rally looks like a classic pump made on extreme volumes, which indicates that some part of the market participants has been actively selling the ETH on the way up. The rally has ended with a High-Tide Doji candlestick pattern and since then the bears are trying to push the prices lower to test the broken levels. The next technical support is seen at the levels of $156.77, $150.94 and $146.94.

Weekly Pivot Points:

WR3 - $163.70

WR2 - $155.20

WR1 - $149.53

Weekly Pivot - $140.92

WS1 - $136.16

WS2 - $127.09

WS3 - $122.67

Trading Recommendations:

The best strategy in the current market conditions is to trade with the larger timeframe trend, which is still down. All the shorter timeframe moves are still being treated as a counter-trend correction inside of the uptrend. There is a possibility that the wave 2 corrective cycles are completed, so the market might be ready for another impulsive wave up of a higher degree and uptrend continuation.